At the trading deadline, the Vancouver Canucks traded Cody Hodgson and Alexander Sulzer for Zack Kassian, the major piece in a stunning deal that traded out Vancouver’s first home-grown potentially high-scoring forward prospect in years.

Also in the deal with the Sabres, the Canucks picked up a defenceman named Marc-Andre Gragnani, who went through one of the more stunning sequences in Vancouver.

Let’s pick it up towards the end of the season:

2. The best outcome of the Canucks 3-2 loss to the Flames just may be the fact Marc-Andre Gragnani played his 80th NHL game, meaning no one has to fret anymore about him becoming a UFA.

As all expected, the offers were sure to come pourinig in for the defencemen. So, the Canucks now have him locked up as a restricted free agent and no longer are in a situation where he has to play.

This is from a column by Jason Botchford in early April. Despite the Canucks’ winning streak, Alain Vigneault tinkered with the lineup every game, but one constant: Marc-Andre Gragnani had played six consecutive games to hit his 80th game. According to the CBA, this meant the Canucks would have the choice to match any offer made to Gragnani when he became a free agent on July 1st—as a restricted free agent.

Gragnani never saw another game with the Canucks after Game No. 80. His high-event play helped the Canucks in the offensive zone, but his questionable commitment to defence opened up a lot of holes at the back. Still, he had some potential and was a project, and the Canucks had his rights.

Defenceman Marc-Andre Gragnani played 14 regular-season games for the Vancouver Canucks after being acquired at the trade deadline in large part because the team did not want him to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Now it appears the Canucks are letting that happen anyway.

As a restricted free agent, Gragnani did not receive a qualifying offer by Monday’s deadline and becomes an unrestricted free agent.

What happened along the way? At one point, the Canucks played him the minimum required to hold onto his rights, and then they gave up on his rights for nothing.

Rarely are players of much value not tendered qualifying offers. A QO is basically a one-year contract offering a modest raise from the team to restricted free agents. They’re mostly signed by depth players, by oftentimes teams and players will come to terms on longer deals worth more salary.

At some point, the Canucks decided they wanted enough of Gragnani to perhaps package off his RFA rights in a deal, but no teams were biting and Vancouver didn’t deem him important enough to keep aboard. When did the Canucks finally sour on Gragnani?

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